VK Singh writes to PM for probe into ’12 ‘coup’ reports

NEW DELHI: Minister of state for external affairs General VK Singh (retd) said on Thursday he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order a “highlevel investigation” to identify people who encouraged allegations in 2012 that the Indian Army had tried to carry out a coup.

In 2012, a media report said that General VK Singh, who was then the army chief, was responsible for an unauthorised troop movement towards New Delhi. The report was denied by the then United Progressive Allaince government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The army chief has written a letter to PM Modi, saying that the allegations of coup amounted to questioning the integrity of the armed forces and were grounds for sedition charges.

People who were behind the conspiracy must be exposed and punished, the letter said.

Singh said he had written to the home ministry in 2013 seeking an FIR following the publication of the report about movement of “key army units” towards Delhi without notifying the government.

Singh was chosen as a Union minister by the Narendra Modiled government that came to power in 2014. “Now let the law take its own course,” he said about the media report while speaking to reporters. NEWDELHI:WHY is the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) angry with its oldest ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)? What has caused the party to vent publicly by skipping the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) January 31 pre-budget meeting?

For record, the SAD, through its leader and Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral, cited as the ignition point the Maharashtra government’s alleged interference in Sikh affairs.

The conferment of Padma awards on SS Dhindsa and HS Phoolka also took the SAD by surprise.

Dhindsa was once the secretary-general of the SAD and Phoolka was until recently a leader of the Aam Aadmi Party. They both aren’t on the best of terms with the Badal family, especially former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur, who is a Union minister.

The SAD’S unease was compounded when the Padma list was released close on the heels of a critical statement by Dhindsa; the Badals later diplomatically complimented him for the honour. For his part, Phoolka has plans to open a broader front with a campaign to free the Sadcontrolled